


Truth or Dare

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2002-03-01
Updated: 2002-03-01
Packaged: 2019-05-30 10:17:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15094661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: Truth or Dare, anyone?





	1. Truth or Dare

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

 

Title:Truth or Dare  
Author: Kristen  
Genre: general  
Disclaimer: not mine  
Note: This might have been a challenge i read somewhere, but actually,  
this was my dream last night...it's really sick, i know...

"So, Josh," CJ asked from her seat in the Mural Room as she plunged her  
fork into her plateful of spaghetti, "truth or dare?" 

Snow, as the eastern seaboard had discovered, was a funny thing. It was  
fickle, finicky and evasive. It also had the ability to paralyze the  
nation. 

The DC weather casters had spent the past few days promising that the  
approaching nor'easter would miss the capitol city. 

Surprisingly, they were wrong. 

So now, most of the White House staff found themselves trapped at work  
under two feet of snow. 

"Truth." 

CJ, Sam and Toby studied their food as they pondered a good question to  
ask Josh. 

"What time is it?" Toby asked suddenly. 

"Well, that's a lousy question," Josh whined teasingly. 

Toby responded by chucking a balled-up napkin at him. 

"That definitely had marinara sauce on it, Toby." Josh muttered,  
throwing it back at him. 

"It's 2 am," Sam yawned. 

CJ sunk back into her couch, "Guys, we've been playing stupid party  
games for almost four hours now, we've raided all of the food in the  
White House kitchen and out of the 20-odd people still here, I'm sure  
we're the only four awake." 

"Actually, I'll bet you money that Leo's around here somewhere working  
on something." Sam pointed out. 

"That's not a question!" Josh stated. 

Toby threw another napkin ball at him. 

"What's your point, CJ," Sam asked. 

"My point, Spanky dear, is that we should try to sleep again." 

"After my question," Josh clarified. 

"Yes, you big dork, after your stupid question," she muttered. 

"If you could sleep with anyone in this building, who would it be and  
why?" A voice from the doorway submitted. 

Four heads turned collectively to see a sleepy looking Donna. 

"I thought you were asleep," Josh replied. 

"I was. And then your phone rang." 

"Who was it?" 

"Who would you sleep with!" CJ demanded. 

"It was your mother," Donna yawned. "She's been trying to call your  
house for about 6 hours now and you haven't picked up and she'd like to  
remind you to plug in the answering machine she bought you at  
Inauguration, she then assumed you were here." 

"Why'd she call?" 

"She's your mother, Joshua. I don't know, to make sure you were ok?  
Geez," Donna muttered. 

"Who would you sleep with?" CJ countered. 

"My god, CJ, do you really want to know?" Toby cried out. 

"If he answers the question, then I can go to bed," she retorted. 

"There's nothing stopping you now," he replied. 

Intelligently, she responded by sticking out her tongue at him. 

"Well," Josh spoke up, "CJ." 

"Seriously?" Sam asked. 

"Yeah, since rumor has it that she's so great in bed and all." 

The gang had a good laugh over that one. 

"I am," CJ affirmed. "And now, I'm going to bed." 

"You going too, Josh," Sam asked wryly. 

"Yes, I'm going to sleep with the press secretary in the White House.  
Sounds like a wonderfully, politically intelligent idea, there,  
Samuel." 

"Why not?" A deep voice asked from the doorway. 

"Mr. President!" Josh could feel the blood draining from his face. 

"It's 2 am, guys. Go to sleep." 

"We would, sir, and we've tried, but the couches are very  
uncomfortable, and well," CJ trailed off. 

"Abbey sent me down. She's got cots and pillows and stuff set up in the  
upstairs. And you all know that if you don't come with me, no one will  
sleep at all. So, follow me." 

TBC 

 

  


	2. Truth or Dare 2

 

Title: Truth or Dare  
Author: Kristen  
Note: This isn't going where you think...  
~*~ 

Josh woke up in a cold sweat. 

'I don't know how much longer I can take this.' 

Throwing off the blanket that was covering him and rubbing his eyes  
awake, Josh went off in search of someone to talk to. 

Finding Leo in the library, he sat down in the chair across from him. 

"Hey, Josh," Leo replied without looking up. 

"How do you do that?" 

He shrugged, "I'm old. I've picked up a few things along the way."  
Taking off his glasses and making eye contact with Josh, Leo continued.  
"So, how long has it been since you had a decent night's sleep?" 

"A decent night? Since the night before you drug me to Nashua." 

"How long has it been since you slept at all?" 

"A few days." Now it was Josh's turn to shrug. "No big deal, really." 

"You having nightmares?" 

"Ok, now you're freaking me out." 

Leo chuckled, "Your father got them all the time during the war." 

"Really? Huh, I never knew." 

"Yeah, they were really bad, too. I knew that we were in physical hell,  
but whatever was going on in his dreams was worse." 

Josh paused, "Um, Leo. Was it really as bad �" 

"Worse. Everything you've heard and worse. That's one of the reasons  
I'm doing what I do. So that it doesn't happen again. So that you and  
Sam and Charlie don't have to go fight a war that made no sense." 

"Thanks." 

"It's the truth," he replaced his glasses and continued to read the  
memos before him until he paused once again. 

"Hey, Josh, what are they about?" 

"The nightmares? Everything. All the shit in my life reliving itself  
over and over. Joanie, Dad, Mandy, Roslyn, all the shit." 

"Whatever happened with you and Mandy?" 

Josh shook his head, "I woke up one morning and I couldn't remember why  
I loved her. I knew it was time to get out." 

"Good move." 

"It's the truth." 

The two men smiled over a newfound inside joke. 

"How much do you remember Joanie." 

Josh shrugged, "I was real young when she died. I remember that she  
loved music and peanut butter. She was allergic to tomatoes, so we were  
never allowed to have pizza. She had really bad asthma and she hated  
sports." 

"Do you remember why?" 

"I just always thought she hated them." 

Leo fiddled with his pencil, "She was born without a section of her  
heart. She wasn't allowed to play them. She didn't die from the fire,  
Josh, she died running to get out." 

Josh stared at him. 

"I can't believe no one ever told you." Leo was shocked. 

"No, I've always thought that �" 

"That it was your fault? Nope, it was her heart's." 

"Wow." Josh sat back and closed his eyes, as if to absorb this new  
revelation. 

"She wasn't perfect, Josh." 

"No, I guess that she wasn't." 

"She was gifted and a true musical prodigy. But she was also a Mozart.  
Full of sass. Your mom used to want to ship her off places, because she  
couldn't take the attitude anymore. But, oh, how you worshipped each  
other," Leo smiled at the memory. 

"I miss her," Josh said quietly. 

"Yeah. Me too," Leo whispered. 

The two men sat in silence for a minute, each absorbed in his own  
thoughts. 

"What do you want to do after this, Josh?" 

"I haven't really thought about it. We've got a few more years here,  
right?" Josh smiled at his mentor. 

"Yeah, we've got a few," Leo agreed, "But, after that. Chief of Staff?" 

"I'm not sure I could ever love that as much as I love working with you  
and Bartlet." 

"Even for Hoynes?" 

"I don't think he'd have me back." 

"You could run against him." 

Josh's eyes almost fell out of his head at that point. 

"What?" 

Leo went back to his paper work, "Just a thought." 

"You think I could?" 

Leo met his eyes, "Sure, why not? You have the passion, the skills, the  
know- how, the experience, to a certain extent anyway. You'd just have  
to work on your people skills." 

Josh laughed, "I'd need a wife, too." 

Leo raised an eyebrow, "You want one?" 

"Yeah." 

"They're great, but you got to be careful with them." 

"Yeah," Josh paused. "Hey, Leo?" 

"Yeah?" 

"Why didn't you run?" 

Leo shook his head, "Wouldn't have gotten elected." 

"Sierra-Tucson?" 

"Yeah." 

"That sucks. So you trained Bartlet?" 

"He had it in him, he just needed help." 

"You trained Bartlet?" Josh repeated. 

Leo chuckled, "Yeah." 

"Would you train me?" 

"You want it?" 

"More than you know," Josh whispered. 

"Then you're one step ahead of Jed," Leo remarked. 

Josh laughed. "We've never had a Jewish president." 

Leo shrugged. 

Josh continued, "You think that I could do it?" 

"Why do you think you can't? Don't shame your father, Josh. He told  
everyone that his son was going to lead the world some day. Why not?" 

"I need a wife," Josh repeated. 

"Don't need one, want one." Leo advised. 

"So what should we do now?" 

"We get Bartlet re-elected." 

"Even if he says no?" 

"He'll say yes. He has to. Because I refuse to go back to the better of  
'who cares.'" Leo reasoned. 

"Yeah," Josh agreed. 

"And because you're not ready yet," Leo smiled. 

"Oh. Hey Leo, truth or dare." 

"Were you people playing that down there?" 

"Yeah. Truth or dare?" 

"Truth," Leo sighed. 

"If Noah Lyman was alive today, would he have voted for Jed Bartlet?" 

"Yeah, but he would have fought for Josh Lyman." 

Josh smiled, "I'm going to bed." 

"Good boy, see you in a few hours." Leo looked around the empty room  
and muttered to himself, "President Joshua Lyman. Wow." 

"Did I just hear what I think I heard?" 

Leo smiled at the familiar voice, "You're not off the hook, old  
friend." 

Jed Bartlet took the seat across from Leo that Josh had just vacated.  
"I don't know if I can do it again, Leo." 

"No, you probably can't. But Josh, CJ, Toby, Sam, me, Abbey and you  
can." 

Jed sighed. "He'll be good. 

"Yeah." 

"Go to bed, Leo." 

"I'll go soon." 

"President Leo McGarry would be good, too." 

"Nah," Leo shook his head. 

"I'm not going to stop trying." 

The two friends smiled. Jed continued, "I'm telling you, if I never  
have to set foot in the Situation Room again, I'll die a happy man." 

Leo grinned, "I hear you, sir. Goodnight." 

"Goodnight," Jed replied absently as Leo made his way out of the room. 

'Josh as President. He's got my vote.' 

He made his way back to bed. Climbing in beside Abbey, he smiled at the  
ceiling. 

'Dare me to run again, Leo. I will, just give me time. We've got to  
train my successor.' 

Abbey groaned and rolled over, "What time is it?" 

"4 am." 

"Dear god. Everyone ok?" 

"All is well, Abigail, all is well." 

 

End

 


End file.
